Dance in the Rain
by Ledger.Lines
Summary: When a young witch can't feel anymore, will an old soul stop to comfort her? Yes, but can he help? Moody/Luna, not romantic. WARNING: Possible triggering content.


**A/N: This is NOT a slash fic, nothing like that at all, just Moody taking on a fatherly character for Luna, so it may be a bit OOC… but I don't really think so. It's for the Confessions Challenge by Psychopath-Convention. Enjoy! :)**

Alastor Moody left the Order Meeting, itching for the final battle to start. He wanted to get back into it, the hunt for dark wizards. To feel the rush of magic down his arm again as he prevented a witch or wizard from doing harm or damage. He left the house, to find it was raining.

He sighed, _Not an hour ago it was bright and sunny out._ Even stranger then the sudden change in weather was who was out in the weather. That blonde haired witch… Lovegood. And what was more, she was dancing.

He walked out of the rain and watched her dancing, spinning in graceful circles, jumping, and falling. There they were, in the middle of a war, just waiting for the action to start, and here she was, dancing. She looked so innocent, she hadn't worn any makeup so it wasn't dripping.

Luna looked like a child, oblivious of the world around her.

She looked over at him and noticed him standing there. "Oh, hello Mr. Moody. You'd better come out into the rain, I can see some Nargles in that eaves trough above you." He shook his head, "Actually I was just about to say you should come out of the rain, you'll catch a cold."

She smiled a sad smile, "I like the cold." He heard something in her voice that he couldn't quite place. He walked out to her, and saw her eyes were red. _I'd better ask… no one else will._ "Are you okay Miss Lovegood?"

"It's Luna." She stated, avoiding the question completely. He was beginning to get annoyed. These females and their mixed emotions.

"Okay then, Luna, are you okay? Your eyes look red." She looked down at the ground. He followed her gaze, and looked at the ground where she had been dancing, his eyes eventually falling on her feet. He was shocked, to find that such a delicate looking girl could have such ugly feet. They were bruised, her toes were almost contorted, they were very thin, and the nails were cracked and bruised.

He must have worn a shocked expression. "Ugly aren't they?" He looked at her, he had no idea what to say. "These are the feet of a ballerina. It doesn't really matter what our feet look like because they're always covered by shoes. And the pointe shoes have thoroughly ruined my feet. I don't wear sandals anymore, but I suppose that's the price of perfection."

He couldn't begin to fathom why Luna would have done this to her feet, all for dance, and he was about to ask, when she spoke again. "To answer your question I'm not okay . I haven't been okay for a long while."

She looked him right in the eyes, both of them. Most people avoided contact with his magic eye, but not her. "Why didn't you tell anyone Luna, your friends? I'm sure they would help you." She shook her head sadly.

"I don't want to distract them. See, I'll be okay, and I wouldn't want them to be worry about me when they need to worry about Voldemort." Her eyes were wet, but he wasn't sure if it was the rain or new tears.

"So, are you going to be okay?" He asked, wanting to make sure she could handle herself before he left.

She took in a sharp breath, and he realised that those were tears in her eyes. "No." And she began to shake with sobs.

_Oh my god, what do I do now? _He panicked on the inside. He wasn't at all experienced in being a shoulder to cry on. Even when he was training Tonks, she always went to her parents, knowing he wasn't an emotional fellow.

Luckily, she had stopped crying enough to talk, "If you need to tell someone… well I guess I'm here aren't I. So how about you tell me if you're that troubled." She nodded, "First, let's get out of the rain, come over here." He took them to under the eaves trough where she slid down the wall onto the ground, huddled up in the fetal position.

He got to the ground and sat beside her. "You know Mr. Moody, some people say you're scary and mean, but I don't think you are." He smiled inwardly, secretly touched by the witch's words. "Okay, now. What's wrong Luna?"

He found himself, shockingly, actually caring. He was very practiced at not getting emotionally attatched to people, just another way that they could get at you, but here he was, caring about Luna Lovegood, someone he had just met.

"I doubt you'll understand or be able to help… I wouldn't be surprised if I was alone in this problem all together, but I just need to tell someone." He waited for her to continue, and she did, "I… I'm falling apart. I'm usually open and cheerful, but lately I've been using the things I believe in that others don't as walls, to make them leave me alone. Because the truth is, inside, I just feel numb. I don't feel anything, ever.

"All I want is to feel something. I've been in the rain for 2 hours. One hour and thirty minutes of that time was spent dancing, trying to feel something again. I can't Mr. Moody, and I don't know what to do anymore." Tears silently poured down her face, and she looked to him. Waited to say something, for him to tell her she wasn't a freak.

"When was the last time you felt anything Luna?" She looked at her feet. "Last week. It didn't last, but it was so good when it did." He almost didn't dare to proceed, but he did anyways, for his concern was growing.

"Luna, how did you extract the emotion?" He prayed that it was a happy feeling, begging whatever was up there, if they were listening, that this girl was going to tell him something happy that had happened.

"When I did this." She rolled up her shirt, and across it, Moody saw a large cut. It hadn't been properly healed. He felt a tear leak. "Why Luna?"

She stared at him. "I felt empty. I was desperate to make sure I wasn't dead. I know it was bad, and I know it was awful, but I'd do it again." Those words haunted Moody.

"Luna, let me tell you. I can't help you, but I know how you feel. I became an auror to fight off dark witches and wizards and put them away. Now, I did that in the normal sense for quite some time, going with a group, duelling one or two wizards at a time with about 5 of us.

"Eventually, I became addicted to the thrill, so I continued to put myself in riskier and riskier situations, until I was almost killed once. At that point, it became too much for me. I realised what I was doing to myself, and resigned to training.

"And Luna, I haven't felt alive since. I'm waiting for this battle to start so that I can feel alive again."

She rested her head against her shoulder. "Thank you for sharing that Mr. Moody. I don't feel so alone anymore." He grunted his acknowledgement, and they sat for a while in the rain, waiting to feel something. But it didn't come, not that night anyways.

**AN: I hope you liked it, this was a fairly personal story for me, as I have been on both sides of the spectrum, so please no flames, but constructive criticism is appreciated and welcomed. Please review :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~L.L**


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